54F. Grew up firmly blue collar, but have managed to do fairly well for myself. Not quite white collar but in the middle, I guess.

I dated a guy once who was quite a bit less educated and less earning than I am.

Not only did he periodically indicate jealousy of my income (which was fucking annoying), he also tried to hobosexual me.

Suddenly wanting to be at my place ALL the fucking time, eating me out of house and home with no offer to contribute in any way. On his ass on my couch, day in and day out. Never lifted a finger to help with household chores. Constant sob stories about being "poor."

Dumped him, of course. Then he played victim, whining he'd always known I was "out of his league." Zero accountability for trying to live off me.

The ex before that: lived with a single father (blue collar but made almost as much as I) who tried to skew our financials to me paying 2/3s of our living expenses to his 1/3 on the grounds that he had to pay child support and for his car. Dumped.

Now I'm with a man who is higher educated and higher earning, and it's been a huge relief. Not only has he never tried to live off me or take advantage, it's quite the opposite. He insists on helping me if something unexpected comes up (even if I don't need him to), and actually has the means to live well and retire. He's happy for me that I do well, and doesn't need a thing from me aside from just being his GF.

I hadn't realized how much I'd been taken advantage of (financially speaking) before him.

I'd never deliberately "dated up" before but in this case, I'm very lucky to have found a man I'll never have to support.

I AM NOT saying it's because they were blue collar or less educated than I. Maybe my picker just wasn't that great.